Bewitched
by Eyrial
Summary: Long promised one shot, Richard's point of view of his visit to Thornfield. Originally written for English GCSE coursework.  Mild Violence


Richard Mason approached Thornfield Hall for the first time with a sense of trepidation; the chill weather of an English April was still new to him, an unpleasant contrast to the heat of the West Indies. The cool weather sent a shiver down his spine, but then again it may have been the knowledge of what lay in wait within. His nervous eyes swept across the windows below the battlements, knowing that in one of these rooms his sister prowled, a trick of the light gave the impression of a face at the window and he rushed into the house like a spooked horse. The master of the house, one Edward Rochester with whom he had been acquainted with for many years, was away on business. A disappointed Richard was ushered into a room full of the master's guests, many names he recognised from the parlours of the gentry who came to the West Indies. The name Blanche Ingram peaked his interest, she was a well known beauty and the matchmakers amongst the crowd paired her with Edward. Richard watched her for a few minutes then looked away pained, she stalked around the room like she owned it, filled with distain for the others. She was too like Bertha; he didn't wish to be reminded.

Although I enjoyed the company of the some of the few nice guests, it was not them who interested me, but the plain girl who sat alone in a corner. She hid herself behind a large screen; I wondered what she was even doing here when she was so obviously uncomfortable in their company. I discreetly watched her from across the room. She was absorbed in a book but every so often she glanced upwards at one of the guests, each time I followed her eyes and found myself looking at Blanche. This increased my curiosity until suddenly, as one often does; she sensed I was watching her. She looked in my direction and met my gaze, she quickly returned to her book, embarrassed. From asking around casually I gleaned small bits of information which I gradually pieced together to form a bare picture of this girl, what I knew was not enough, something about her sparked my curiosity and made me want to learn more. I discovered her name was Jane Eyre; she was a governess and not a lady of status, which explained why she sat alone in a corner of the room. Not one person in the room cared a whit for her; to them she was furniture, little more than a servant who deserved no attention.

Presently the party was interrupted by a servant, who said there was problem, a gipsy who refused to go away. The girls did not wish for her to leave and not long afterwards, a rather haughty looking Blanche came back sulkily, her enthusiasm quashed by something she had heard. I chuckled to myself at her dismay and three other girls left to have their own fortunes told by the mysterious Sibyl. They re-entered dramatically, terrified by the woman who had known all their secrets, including the one that all the young men in the room wished to know. They were fresh faced and had an innocent beauty, sweet like daisies beaded with pearls of dew on a clear spring morning, I could see why they were wanted as brides. They were like a cool drink of water compared to the intoxicating beauty of Blanche Ingram and the sultry mystique of the dark, seductive women back home in the West Indies.

I circulated through the crowd of elegant and arrogant men and women, always keeping on the meek little girl in the corner. A movement in the corner of my eye caught my eye and I saw the old servant approach her and bend down to speak to her, for she was sitting down and knew that standing up her height would match her petite frame. I tuned out of the conversation for one moment and strained my ears to listen to their conversation, intrigued by her and her deep sorrow, visible even from here.

_"If you please, miss, the gipsy declares that there is another young single lady in the room who has not been to her yet, and she swears she will not go till she has seen all. I thought it must be you: there is no one else for it. What shall I tell her?" _

_"Oh, I will go by all means,"_ With that she followed Sam out of the room and closed the door, I laughed to myself again, the whole affair had had the air of Edward. Now I was sure it was him.

Eagerly I awaited her return; I knew no one had noticed her departure and her return would not be greeted with the same enthusiasm as that of the rich ladies'. I however, wished to see her face and to gather whether she had been fooled, I knew not her relationship with her master but the girl interested me and I wanted to see the depth of her perception. She did not return for a long time and dinner arrived, I kept one eye on the door, watching for her. At last she returned, she shot a piercing and inquisitive look straight at me before proceeding to pour a glass of wine and leave the room once again. Dinner had finished before she came back, and to my surprise she entered the room and headed straight towards me.

"Excuse me sir, Mr Rochester has arrived and wishes to see you, please follow me and I will lead you to him." Shocked, I did as she asked and trailed her through the corridors; I saw that she was preoccupied and not up for conversation. She led me into the room where Edward was then left us alone, Edward looked pale but he smiled when he saw me and greeted me jovially.

"Richard! It's been a long time my friend."

"It has indeed, too long." The smile faded from his face and his voice changed to a serious one. "What are you doing here Richard?"

"I want to see my sister, and see my old friend."

"Well, I will grant you request but please, as you can see I have company and it would do harm if they were to know of Bertha's existence."

"Have no fear; I will not betray your secret. Now, I have come to ask for your forgiveness, it has been a long time and I worry that you have hardened your heart against me."

"I wouldn't do that, you know I do not blame you for my… predicament. In those ten long years since I last left you I have been to hell and back inside my mind, but there is light at the end of the tunnel Richard."

"Good to hear it my friend."

"Richard, I have wasted many years in Europe, but I have come back and I want a life here. You must keep my secret, for I fear if they find out I may be ruined, can I have your word?"

"Of course."

"Well, now we have that settled, Bertha's condition has deteriorated since you last saw her; it is not safe for you to see her alone. You _must_ wait for me before you go and visit her. Now, it is too late for me to see to my guests this evening so it has been a long while since you and I have spoken. We have a lot to learn about each others lives."

We talked for a long time, we just avoided the topic of Bertha, neither he nor I wanted to think about her. It was enough that I had had to come here to visit her, some lingering filial affection causing me to seek her out, bringing me here to this cold country. I could think of two redeeming outcomes of this journey, I could stop tormenting myself with wondering about the health of my sister. I could also see Edward; he had been the only friend I had, back in the West Indies I had clung to him as a small child might stick to his older brother. We were older now, verging on middle age, but he still held a certain power over me. Then it came back to me, one last thing that could make all of this pain worthwhile. Cautiously I broached the subject of his governess, I did not know why I did it, where I wanted it to lead, what I wanted to happen. Still, I somehow knew it was worth it, I drew in a deep breath, as if steeling myself for the canings my father had been too happy to hand out and spoke. "Edward" I began hazardously, my attempt as sounding nonchalant, only mildly curious, failing. "What do you know of your governess?"

His previously relaxed manner changed in an instant, he tensed visibly. He spoke abruptly, his friendly tone vanished the moment I mentioned her.

"I know enough. What do you want with her?"

I faltered again, knowing that the wrong words would only serve to anger him further, I chose my words carefully.

"I noticed that she seemed sad, the guests did not seem to interest her, she sat alone behind a screen. And I was curious as to why you called her to you this afternoon, for I know that the gypsy was you, you chose her to summon me rather than a servant whom you pay to do your bidding. Surely the governess's duty is to the child, not the master of the house."

Edward's face grew red and angry, he did not shout, he did not need to. His whispering words and the hissing element in his voice told me all I needed to know about his fury.

"It is not your business as to what I tell my household staff to do, it is no concern of yours as to whether I chose to speak with her or not. I do not want to hear another word about her, and I swear if you say even one more word than is needed to be civil to her I will personally make sure you never speak to her again."

It was then that I knew, he was in love with her but I was still angered by the rebuke I had received, disappointed that I would not get to know the mysterious Miss Eyre better. Edward's jealousy ensured that I would never know more than I could from just observing her.

"Well then" I said trying to conceal my own anger. "I am tired from my journey and wish to retire, if you would be so kind as to show me to my rooms. Rest assured that I will not trouble Miss Eyre any longer."

Later that night I knew what I had to do, deliberately disobeying Edward's orders was foolish, but I wished to get out of this house on the morrow. I could not stay here any longer, I did not want to take the only happiness in his life away from him, but I could not stay and watch him trap an innocent girl in a web of lies and deceit. No matter how much he loved her. I walked up the stars to where I knew the beast lay in wait for me, I could hear her screams, but I could not leave without seeing her. I opened the door and the sight that met my eyes was gruesome, the madness had stolen away all my sisters' beauty, her long, dark hair was matted and filthy. She wore a ripped dress, one I recognised from the life of parties and fine society all those years ago, when I had hated myself for tricking Edward into marrying this foul creature. She saw me and let out a vicious snarl, she flew across the room with her eyes ablaze with the devil inside her and her teeth bared. Within seconds she had reached me, I did not notice the knife she had until it was too late. She stabbed me, tried to kill me and when that failed she bit me. Tearing at my flesh and drinking my blood. I do not know how long it took Edward to come to my rescue and drag me from her clutches, but to me it felt an eternity, forever in her hellish presence. She was too strong, her mind had wasted away but her body had not, it took both Edward and her muscular gaoler, a woman by the name of Grace Poole to overcome her. Finally I was wrestled from her grasp and she was restrained, it pained me to see my once beautiful sister in that state.

He lay me down in the room next door; he went downstairs and returned, barely conscious I remember him addressing these words to me and one other. _"__You will not speak to him on any pretext and Richard; it will be at the peril of your life if you speak to her: open your lips agitate yourself and I'll not answer for the consequences."_ He left and it was then I noticed the presence of an angel, her cool hand soothing my wounds. I did not know if I was dead or alive, so unearthly was her presence. I flitted between consciousness; where my angel numbed the pain and cleaned the bite wounds that Bertha had made, when she sucked my blood and tried to drain my heart. I also had brief lapses into the unconscious, and before Jane brought me back with smelling salts, I replayed Bertha's attack again and again until I felt sick. After many hours drifting between heaven and hell, wondering if I was even alive anymore of whether this was just some sick torture I got for ruining the life of my greatest friend. I received a quick glimpse of beauty; not physical beauty, but the pure, innocent and tender beauty of the girl caring for me. As soon as I experienced this I was dragged back into my memories, breaking out in cold sweat from pure fear. Edward returned with a surgeon, he was stressed as all he wanted was to get me out of here, I knew why. He could not let Jane know what truly happened during the night, she was bound to be curious, he could also not afford for his guests to know the truth. His happiness lay in a delicate balance; one glimpse of me could easily upset the already teetering state of things.

The cold, fresh air hit me like a wall when we got outside, I was quickly loaded into the coach, but the window was left open as the air had revitalised me after the long night. The driver prepared to take me to the surgeon's house and I knew I had to say one last thing before I left. _"Fairfax"_

"_Well what is it?"_

"_Let her be taken care of; let her be treated as tenderly as may be: let her-"_ I broke off as I gave in and let the tears course down my cheeks, my exhaustion had finally over come me and the emotion caught hold. The tears were for Bertha, but both Edward and I knew the words were also for another, we rode off and my thoughts were consumed with the memory of the quiet girl who had just saved my life.


End file.
